Dante Exum Out Indefinitely After Knee Surgery

[RealGM Wiretap]

Dante Exum will be out indefinitely after have surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon in his right knee.

Exum suffered the knee injury last week after sitting out 25 games with a left ankle sprain.

Exum appeared in just 42 games this season.

Via ESPN

[Revived]

What was Utah thinking when they gave him that ridiculous contract?

[Rashidi]

What was Utah thinking when they gave him that ridiculous contract?

He played well in 2018 and is only 23. The contract isn't ridiculous so much as a slight gamble.

The NBA Salary Cap is 99M. Exum makes 9.6M per which is roughly 10%.
Utah's actual salary this year is 113M of which Exum makes up 8%. Hardly a cap-killer.

Logic dictated the team prefers to moves on from Ricky Rubio (15M) this off-season which would have given Utah a chance to have a combined 13M starting backcourt between Exum/Mitchell. Hardly a tragedy if Exum ends up the 3rd guard again.

A quick glance at 2020 bench guard salaries around the NBA
Kent Bazemore: 19M
Goran Dragic: 19M
Evan Turner: 18M
Dennis Schroder: 15M
Jordan Clarkson: 13M
Patty Mills: 12M
Courtney Lee: 12M
Spencer Dinwiddie: 10M
Markelle Fultz: 9.7M - a fair baseline for Exum.
Fred VanVleet: 9.3M

Exum is paid like a solid backup (6th-8th man).

Now if you want "ridiculous": Nicolas Batum is owed 52M over the next two years and just started logging DNP-CDs (read: not DNP-INJs). And let's not talk about John Wall, who will probably make as much in two months on the sidelines as Exum will in two years.

[Revived]

What was Utah thinking when they gave him that ridiculous contract?

He played well in 2018 and is only 23. The contract isn't ridiculous so much as a slight gamble.

The NBA Salary Cap is 99M. Exum makes 9.6M per which is roughly 10%.
Utah's actual salary this year is 113M of which Exum makes up 8%. Hardly a cap-killer.

Logic dictated the team prefers to moves on from Ricky Rubio (15M) this off-season which would have given Utah a chance to have a combined 13M starting backcourt between Exum/Mitchell. Hardly a tragedy if Exum ends up the 3rd guard again.

A quick glance at 2020 bench guard salaries around the NBA
Kent Bazemore: 19M
Goran Dragic: 19M
Evan Turner: 18M
Dennis Schroder: 15M
Jordan Clarkson: 13M
Patty Mills: 12M
Courtney Lee: 12M
Spencer Dinwiddie: 10M
Markelle Fultz: 9.7M - a fair baseline for Exum.
Fred VanVleet: 9.3M

Exum is paid like a solid backup (6th-8th man).

Now if you want "ridiculous": Nicolas Batum is owed 52M over the next two years and just started logging DNP-CDs (read: not DNP-INJs). And let's not talk about John Wall, who will probably make as much in two months on the sidelines as Exum will in two years.

Exum is more injury prone than anyone on your list (besides Fultz).

He’s had more surgeries and procedures done on him than many cadavers at most medical schools.

[Rashidi]

You could say the same about Spencer Dinwiddie when he was Exum's age.
The point is the signing was a drop in the bucket and isn't hindering Utah in any notable way (beyond their former lottery pick missing out on development time).

[mjvile]

What was Utah thinking when they gave him that ridiculous contract?

He played well in 2018 and is only 23. The contract isn't ridiculous so much as a slight gamble.

The NBA Salary Cap is 99M. Exum makes 9.6M per which is roughly 10%.
Utah's actual salary this year is 113M of which Exum makes up 8%. Hardly a cap-killer.

Logic dictated the team prefers to moves on from Ricky Rubio (15M) this off-season which would have given Utah a chance to have a combined 13M starting backcourt between Exum/Mitchell. Hardly a tragedy if Exum ends up the 3rd guard again.

A quick glance at 2020 bench guard salaries around the NBA
Kent Bazemore: 19M
Goran Dragic: 19M
Evan Turner: 18M
Dennis Schroder: 15M
Jordan Clarkson: 13M
Patty Mills: 12M
Courtney Lee: 12M
Spencer Dinwiddie: 10M
Markelle Fultz: 9.7M - a fair baseline for Exum.
Fred VanVleet: 9.3M

Exum is paid like a solid backup (6th-8th man).

Now if you want "ridiculous": Nicolas Batum is owed 52M over the next two years and just started logging DNP-CDs (read: not DNP-INJs). And let's not talk about John Wall, who will probably make as much in two months on the sidelines as Exum will in two years.

You also forget to mention that it’s on a team option, so we could drop him at any point should a better option come available.